The forthcoming disruptive innovation of governance (quote)

Moisés Naím, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a columnist for El Pais, describes in his new book The End of Power the diffusion of traditional means of control: “To put it simply, power no longer buys as much as it did in the past … power is easier to get, harder to use – and easier to lose.”

More importantly, reflecting on the need for innovation in governance he writes:

“Restoring trust, reinventing political parties, finding new ways in which average citizens can meaningfully participate in the political process, creating new mechanisms of effective governance, limiting the worst impact of checks and balance while averting excessive concentration of unaccountable power, and enhancing the capacity of nation-states to work together should be the central political goals of our time.

Without these changes, sustained progress in fighting the threats at home and abroad that conspire against our security and prosperity will be impossible. …

In short, disruptive innovation has not arrived in politics, government and political participation. But it will. We are on the verge of a revolutionary wave of political and institutional revolutions….power is changing in so many arenas that it will be impossible to avoid important transformations in the way humanity organizes itself to make the decisions it needs to survive and progress.”